Kristi Noem apparently has a very different explanation for the Republican Party’s disastrous midterm performance: she and the Trump administration were simply too successful.
That claim didn’t sit well with former Republican congressman and Fox News host Trey Gowdy, who delivered a sharp rebuke of the former Homeland Security secretary, pointing to the administration’s immigration crackdown, the deaths of two American citizens and Noem’s controversial record at DHS.
Noem sparked widespread ridicule on Election Night, November 3, after agreeing with former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow that the economy was “booming” and confidently predicting Republicans would hold the Senate.
“Larry Kudlow is correct. We were too successful the first year of the Trump administration,” Noem posted that evening as election results were rolling in and Republicans were suffering major losses.
Gowdy wasn’t buying it.
On Sunday Night in America, he challenged Noem’s characterization of her time at DHS, specifically calling out the administration’s response to the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two U.S. citizens killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January.
“She said she was too successful at doing her job. Calling dead Americans domestic terrorists before the investigation even commenced is not too much success,” Gowdy said.
“It’s a perceived lack of empathy, which in turn motivates voters to then go send a message.”
The criticism goes beyond Noem’s handling of the Minneapolis killings. Gowdy also pointed to the administration’s priorities, including a $143 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign that prominently featured Noem herself.
In one widely publicized ad, Noem appeared on horseback with Mount Rushmore in the background, dressed and styled for a polished political production.
“When people voted for border security, they were not including glitzy, self-serving ad campaigns focused on boosting personal political ambitions,” Gowdy said.
He added that voters who supported Trump in 2024 never signed up for Americans to be shot in their cars or on the street and then labeled “domestic terrorists” before investigators had even begun examining what happened.
Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller had quickly applied that label to Good and Pretti after their deaths, triggering widespread outrage and protests.
Gowdy’s criticism comes as Republicans face a post-election reckoning over the issues that helped drive voters away. According to Fox News’ Voter Poll, 54 percent of voters identified government corruption as a crucial factor in their House election decisions, followed by the cost of living at 49 percent. Immigration enforcement registered 36 percent, while the Iran war came in at 34 percent.
In an accompanying opinion piece, Gowdy described the Republican defeat as “as thorough a whipping as I can recall in my lifetime.”
Even Trump has acknowledged that his administration’s immigration crackdown may have gone too far.
“I think it might be too tough, yeah,” the president told CBS’s *60 Minutes* on Sunday, conceding that some Americans believe the enforcement campaign has become excessive.
Noem’s political troubles ultimately cost her the Homeland Security job. Trump fired her after the fallout from the Minneapolis killings and a contentious congressional hearing in March, where she claimed the president had personally approved her expensive advertising campaign.
Noem testified that Trump had told her to run the ads not only across the United States but around the world. She even said she had asked whether he wanted to appear in them.
Trump later publicly denied her account in a Truth Social post.
After leaving DHS, Noem was appointed special envoy for the so-called Shield of the Americas, but she is no longer serving in that position either.
Watch Trey Gowdy’s remarks below:
Gowdy: Noem said she was too successful at doing her job. Calling dead Americans domestic terrorists before the investigation even commenced is not too much success. https://t.co/UnOcWXDiKL
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 9, 2026
